The thoughts and wisdom of me

A sharp turn to the right!

It seems that the world we live in is getting crazier by the day. Just this week we have seen the atrocious terrorist attacks in Spain, white supremacists marching in America and killing opponents to their despicable beliefs, and, to top it all, at home we have seen the growth of a campaign on behalf of that throwback Jacob Rees-Mogg; there have even been suggestions that he could be the next leader of the conservative party! Not that any of these events are truly surprising, but they do highlight the way things are at present.

The whole idea that America is a “white” country is beyond ludicrous. Europeans were the invaders, driving back the indigenous, non-white, population who they have treated appallingly ever since. The colonialist’s approach to the native population represented the worst of European arrogance, something we have seen time and time again as European nations spread their influence across Asia, Africa and the Americas.

North America in particular, has thrived for centuries on immigration. Don’t forget it is a comparatively new country and a large proportion of the population is probably no more than a couple of generations on from an immigrant. The continuing influence of white supremacists in the southern states just goes to show how out of touch with reality and the modern world these people really are.

America may claim to be the land of the free, but to some that only seems to apply if you are a white Christian. One of Donald Trump’s earliest blunders was his idea to place a ban on travel from selected, mainly Muslim, countries. This came in response to perceived threats from Isis. But coming at a time when the biggest threat to innocent lives is from home-grown, gun toting madmen, it is clear that the President either doesn’t understand the real issue, or, more likely, is choosing to ignore it and, like so many people before him, blunder about placing the blame for the nation’s woes on the most visibly obvious minority.

But once again, neither America or Trump are the first to react in this way, and they won’t be the last. When times are hard, or people face uncertainty, rather than look at themselves, they will look outward and seek an easy target to vent their fury and frustration. After all, it is easy to lay the blame for your troubles on others rather than yourself, particularly those who, for one reason or another, are outwardly conspicuous. If unemployment is high, blame the immigrants for taking our jobs. You can’t get on the housing ladder, blame the immigrants who are taking all our social housing stock. Long queues at the hospital, then it must be all those immigrants coming here for free treatment. To anyone with any sense, all of these statements are obviously untrue, but they are things we all hear said time and time again.

Some people don’t have the patience or the capacity to look beyond the overly simplistic rhetoric of the far-right and take the easy option of accepting a point of view that seems to offer a simple solution. But the simple solution is very rarely the best and, hardly ever, the right answer. Trump’s threat to tighten up immigration controls plays right into the hands of the extremists and legitimises their twisted view of the world. And is hesitation in condemning the neo-Nazi’s behind the killing last week of Heather Heyer just goes to highlight that it is not just the KKK that we need to be rid of.

Of course, we face similar, though much less overtly obvious problems of our own. We also have a leader whose position within their own party has been weakened by their arrogance and poor decision making. While Trump plays his dangerous games in the far East, Theresa May continues to flounder around over the issue that dominates the political arena, Brexit. A lot has already been said about the jingoism expressed during that particular campaign. It was just another example of the growing nationalism that we have seen right across Europe. Whilst we do not have the same issue in this country with neo-Nazis, the popular acceptance of right wing rhetoric as worrying.

Terrorist attacks like those in Manchester, London and Barcelona only add fuel to the nationalistic fire. Whether or not they are achieving their goal is hard to say, but what they can take some credit for is giving the far right, as well as those who seek simple solutions, ammunition to back up their calls for deportations and a clamp down on immigration.

And the last thing we need is the likes of Jacob-Rees-Mogg gaining any more influence than he already has. Mind you, if he ever did get himself elected as leader of the Conservative Party it would polarise political views in this country, particularly as the Labour Party is now led be someone from the left. It would ensure their policies were discernibly different.